Caroline VanSickle (she/her)

@cvansickle.bsky.social

Feminist, paleoanthropologist, anatomists, previously known as cvans. I write my own posts without AI and will do my best to not share AI content. My Website: carolinevansickle.com.

Today in #WomensHealth: Often, ovarian cancer is actually fallopian tube cancer. Removing the tubes prevents the cancer and can be done with any abdominal surgery (including c-sections). Part of why we're bad at finding ovarian cancer early enough to treat is that we're looking in the wrong organ!

There’s a Way to Prevent Ovarian Cancer. Few Know About It. (Gift Article)

The vast majority of cases begin in the fallopian tubes — and removing them can reduce the risk by nearly 80 percent.

nytimes.com

I still ask strangers for help. 2004: Got lost in Kyoto with a paper map. A shop clerk who didn't speak English helped me find a stranger who did to get directions. 2024: Got lost in Addis Ababa with a phone. A local student helped me find my hotel. 100% recommend talking to strangers when lost!

Michael D. Green, PhD@michaeldgreen.phd · 4w ago

Can’t lie, the fact that y’all were driving with PAPER maps is insane. Even worse, you had to ask random strangers for directions??

Part of my job involves writing fair exam questions for medical students. I've completed multiple courses/workshops to make sure I'm effective at this aspect of my job. So it really annoys me when I take quizzes for required employee trainings that were written by people who lack this skill set.

NEW: Trump's gross Aliens.gov site claims to map where immigrants have been taken into custody, but it includes more 83 spots where Americans alone were arrested. Over 700 locations include citizen arrests. The counter is fake. The music was ripped. And Puerto Rico is listed as a foreign country.

The White House’s Aliens.gov Site Brags That ICE Arrested More Than 700 US Citizens

The website, which compares human beings to extraterrestrials, touts arrest numbers from the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown. But some of its details are really out there.

wired.com

The first cat to be cloned was a calico female named Rainbow (left). The clone, produced at Texas A&M University in 2001 was named "CC" for Carbon Copy or CopyCat (right). Notice something odd about the "identical copy"? Not very identical is she? But they *are confirmed* genetically identical.

An orange white and black calico cat named Rainbow greeting CC, who is in that late kitten stage, and is a tabby calico, no orange.  They sit on a conference table, and Rainbow looks like she's about to either groom or bite CC.

Surprised to learn scientists can't agree on a definition of sex? Don't be! To be honest, we can't even agree on a definition of species. Many so-called natural categories are hard to define once we look at the evidence. Biology is too complex for simple definitions, which is a feature, not a bug.

Jeremy Yoder says no war@jbyoder.org · 4mo ago

"The fact that there is no current consensus of biological sex is not antithetical to science... However, the field urgently needs an ethical and reproducible approach for discussing sex" There is No Consensus on Biological Sex

"The fact that there is no current consensus of biological sex is not antithetical to science... However, the field urgently needs an ethical and reproducible approach for discussing sex" There is No Consensus on Biological Sex

There is No Consensus on Biological Sex

At this critical moment when misinformation about sex is being applied to policy globally, scientific clarification on the definition of biological sex is valuable. Here, we evaluate the primary…

buff.ly

I started reading The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan & found myself impressed by this take on drawing in the forward by David Allen Sibley. I draw fossils (often poorly) to get to know the details of the bone fragment, so I agree that “drawing is really a different way of seeing”.

Screenshot of a page from the ebook of The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan.

The page starts with a drawing of a green bird on a branch, labeled “Anna's Hummingbird (female)”.

Under the image, text reads:
“Like most kids, I enjoyed drawing and I laid down enough "pencil miles" (a fun phrase I just learned in this book) to develop some skills at a young age. So by the time my own bird obsession started to take hold, drawing was a natural part of that. I consider drawing mostly a brain exercise. The hand that controls the pencil to make lines on paper is a small part of the whole process. You can learn how to draw, and then drawing anything becomes easier, but drawing is really a different way of seeing, converting something from three dimensions in the real world to lines on a two-dimensional sheet of paper.”

From the book’s forward, written by ornithologist David Allen Sibley.Screenshot of a page from the ebook of The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan.

The text reads: “Drawing something, like birds, actually depends more on your knowledge of the subject than on your drawing ability. And it is a deep and intangible sort of knowledge.
Imagine your very wise birding mentor saying, "Yes, it is black with a yellow head... but do you really know what that bird looks like?" Drawing requires you to absorb details and then to combine them into a simplified and unified whole. Watching birds for countless hours is the way to get to know them, and drawing is the test to demonstrate that knowledge. The drawing is, in a way, like discovering the birds anew, as they appear on your paper. It usually means testing lines and shapes, erasing, adding a curve, sharpening or softening an edge, working to find the details that re-create the essence of the bird in a drawing. And when that happens it feels like a small kernel of truth has been revealed.”

From the forward of the book, written by ornithologist David Allen Sibley.

I consider myself a biological anthropologist who sometimes has to engage with evolutionary biologists. In EB, too often the conclusions are about how biology determines culture. In BA, we learn that culture & biology are interrelated, affecting each other but not determining (that’s too narrow).

Dr. Jey McCreight 🏳️‍⚧️🧬@jeymccreight.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Hey, fellow evolutionary biologists: If you support trans rights, like, comment, or repost this. I want to show that transphobes like Richard Dawkins are a loud minority that does not represent our community

💫New research out now!💫 Hutson and colleagues demonstrate that men get hired as faculty in archaeology PhD programs more often than women, putting strain on women PhD mentors. And they have some suggestions about what to do about it, too. Read here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Different Destinations: Clarifying and Addressing Pipeline Problems for Women in Academic Archaeology | Advances in Archaeological Practice | Cambridge Core

Different Destinations: Clarifying and Addressing Pipeline Problems for Women in Academic Archaeology

cambridge.org

Another story from my years as a manager: there was a period of time when my group of I think eight direct reports consisted entirely of women, and one day a man from a different group made a comment about how "people are wondering when Snitty is going to hire some men."

Will an anthropologist be able to identify your sex and gender from your bones 100 years from now? I sure hope so! Read my essay on the limited and limiting methods we currently have for sex estimation to learn where the science has room to improve. www.prosocial.world/posts/an-ant...

An Anthropologist’s Perspective on Sex and Gender in the Skeleton

Anthropological methods show that skeletal sex is an estimate, not a certainty, revealing the limits of binary claims about human identity.

prosocial.world